Poultry farmers have lost N30 billion amidst cash crunch

Collins Nnabuife – Abuja

The Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) has lamented that their members have lost 15 million crates of unsold eggs worth N30 billion due to the lingering scarcity of Naira notes.

PAN said eggs being daily produced by poultry farmers since the first week of February 2023 till date have never been off taken by 20% because of the near absence and lack of the Naira notes to buy basic food items and other necessary proteins like eggs and chickens.

In a press release signed by the National President of PAN, Chief Sunday Ezeobiora and the Director General of PAN, Onallo Akpa, the farmers said the Poultry industry in Nigeria is one of the most consolidated subsectors of Nigeria’s Agriculture contributing about 25% of The Agricultural Gross Domestic Product (AGDP) of the economy and employing over 25 million Nigerians direct and indirect.

They said over the years the poultry industry has been a major employer of labour and a great source of financial empowerment and livelihood for many families especially women and youth, and the industry is completely private sector driven worth over 3 trillion Naira.

“At the moment, the poultry industry is on the verge of total collapse and extermination because of the negative and devastating consequences of the currency swap on the industry.

“The near absence of Naira notes for Nigerians to make daily transactions have made businesses in the poultry industry more difficult.

“The Poultry farmers in the country have lost over 15 million crates of Eggs being unsold and are damaged. The average loss to the poultry industry as at this press release is in excess of over N30 Billion Naira.

“Except some measures of immediate interventions done by the Federal Government, the poultry industry in the country is on the verge of total collapse. Most of the poultry farmers are now debtors to commercial banks and suppliers of raw materials and other services.

“Let the poultry industry not collapse for the country to once become a dumping ground for all sorts of poultry and poultry products of eggs and chickens.”

In its recommendations to the government, PAN urged the government to “mop up the eggs through the Association for distribution to the most vulnerable old populations as part of the Social investment support to Nigerians”.

PAN also encouraged the Armed Forces in various Peacekeeping operations, the Nigerian Prisons, the Internally Displaced Persons and places, Primary Schools (School Feeding Programme) to “be immediate off-takers of the eggs”.

It also appealed to the Presidency to direct the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Directorate of Peacekeeping Operations of the Nigeria Armed Forces and the Social Investment Programme of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management to work with the Association on how immediate reliefs can be extended to Poultry Farmers across the country to prevent the imminent collapse of the Poultry Industry Making available direct grants and financial support to the industry through the Association in special packages to be worked out by the Government and the Association”.

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